And did it not speak volumes? Kitts asked for an explanation. The two CEOs spoke for about 10 minutes, apparently in tones overly disguised with diplomacy.

When news broke the next day — that the NCC approved the Tunney’s choice — Kitts was publicly described as having provided “a qualified positive response.” It would be the first of many misreads.

“I think the unfortunate thing is, I guess my polite and professional response was deemed to be positive or supportive, and I don’t think that’s fair,” said Kitts.

Within two business days, the governors of The Ottawa Hospital held a hastily-called meeting, rejected Tunney’s Pasture unanimously, and began to gel around the Sir John Carling site, about one kilometre east of the Civic’s 90-year-old home. And, by week’s end, it was a done deal: a search that began in 2007, only to traverse a political swamp or two, was suddenly over.

“We did an in-depth review of the NCC report,” said Kitts. “We thought there would be new information that would address our three main issues of access, timeline and cost, and we did not find that.”

Community leaders, meanwhile, were howling with disapproval. “The community response was very immediate and very definitive. It was almost like a sleeping giant had awakened.”

Kitts and Cameron Love, the hospital’s executive vice-president, spent a few minutes Tuesday talking about where the issue is going and from whence it came.

Love revealed the original deal to acquire 60 acres of the Central Experimental Farm — announced by Tory cabinet minister John Baird in November 2014 — was nearly sealed and delivered before the October 2015 federal election changed the site’s fortunes.

The government machinery, it turned out, simply moved too slowly. The deal required a land flip to the NCC, then a detailed agreement with the hospital. “We were in the throes of drafting a lease,” said Love, but it required a couple of layers of approval. Then it died.

Other revelations:

Kitts is still hoping for a 10-year completion horizon: five years to plan, five years to build, meaning the new Civic could open by 2027.

Love said the construction would almost certainly be a so-called P3, or public-private partnership, and calls for an architect could go out as early as next spring.

There was never any plan, however crude, for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute to remain on the site and be connected by tunnel or walkway to a new Civic across Carling.

The heart institute must move with the Civic. “If you go to any hospital across the world or North America, you never find them separating (cardiac patients) by buildings,” said Love. Too many other medical specialties are involved and need to be nearby. “That’s why it’s so important the cardiac patients are integrated with the base hospital.”

There will be much public engagement. The City of Ottawa will play a big role, particularly with infrastructure and assessing how traffic will flow from the south along the two-lane Prince of Wales Drive.

The building will probably not have one grand entrance, but consist of podiums and towers with many access points to specialty clinics. More like an airport, say, than a hotel. “I don’t even think there will be a front door,” said Kitts.

With the heart institute’s $200-million expansion not due for completion until 2020, it’s unclear whether the two services will temporarily be on different sites. “We have to look at what are the timelines and what are the transitional options for ensuring patient safety and I think it’s too early to predict that,” said Kitts.

The history would fill a book but, briefly, Kitts says the hospital and Heart Institute were not both planning expansions/relocations in silos without trying to co-ordinate a joint effort. The cardiac unit simply couldn’t wait for urgent upgrades. “We felt the risk was too high to wait until some time in the future when there was a new hospital site.”

And, finally, there is no plan yet to deal with the vacated Civic site.

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